The government is updating its Electricity Planning for 2021 to 2026, with a focus on expanding and modernizing high voltage grids in the coming years. Plans call for investments of about 7,000 million euros to improve grid connectivity for the new renewable energy surge. Some of these investments are expected to be financed through the regulated costs embedded in electricity bills, a portion that all electricity consumers ultimately cover through tolls.
Less than a year after the initial approval, authorities are preparing an update to this roadmap. The forthcoming revision will add urgent strategic actions identified after the launch to support the energy transition and accelerate industrial development amid a broader macroeconomic crisis. The government intends to implement the update in the first quarter of the year, but it aims to avoid reflecting the new costs arising from these changes in the electricity bill.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition, led by Vice President Teresa Ribera, plans to continue financing some of the new electrical networks with European funds. This approach seeks to prevent increases in consumer bills by offsetting costs with EU funds, while introducing a series of measures to push electricity prices downward.
In a bid to shield consumers from toll increases, the government has proposed that these actions be funded through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The macro decree approved by the Council of Ministers highlights the exceptional use of European funds for crisis response.
over the limit
Investments by Red Eléctrica de España in the transmission grid are subject to an annual cap to avoid triggering higher charges on the electricity bill. Investments exceeding 0.065 percent of gross domestic product, roughly 800 million euros each year, cannot be undertaken.
The new investments that the government plans to include in the 2021 to 2026 Planning reform will not be counted when calculating the maximum annual investment limit for the network. This is to prevent disruption of other preexisting projects. The computation will not include the European funds used or the portion of investments in new infrastructures not covered by the funds.
Beyond amending the 2021-2026 Electricity Planning to add fresh actions, the Ministry intends to start work on a completely new planning horizon for 2024-2029. The goal is to modernize the transport network and to partially finance it with community funds from the Recovery Plan.